Any news on Antonio Morrison? He'll return!

[QueenCityGator]

If it is a serious injury, then can he recover by September?

 

[Gator98MD]

Pro aspirations dashed

 

[Go Gata]

I can tell you he didn't sound like he was barking after that play.

In all seriousness, I don't know that his size and weight are going to translate to the NFL and we could use him one more year. So, to be a little selfish, I hope this means he'll be around next year to help out with some of the young bucks coming up

 

[I Have No Friends :(]

I felt horrible for him and hope he has a speedy recovery. Poor guy was in a lot of pain.

 

[Concrete Helmet]

I make fun of our LB's a lot but I hope he is alright. If he stays Shannon might turn him into a NFL player. Anzalone looks like he will be decent or better with some real coaching, same with Davis . McMillan still looks lost out there, does anyone know if Rolin is even still on the team? Pray for Holland people......

 

[GatorJ]

Yes. Rolin has had some injury issues.

 

[GatorJ]

All I've seen is that it is a knee issue

 

[NavetG8r]

Hope he recovers fully.

 

[NoGaGator]

Announcers made it sound like more of a hyper-extension than ACL/MCL problem. Hope for his sake that's true.

 

[Swamp Donkey]

In all seriousness, I don't know that his size and weight are going to translate to the NFL and we could use him one more year.

Speed (or lack thereof) will be his biggest problem.

 

[Swamp Donkey]

McMillan still looks lost out there,

McMillan is probably our best cover guy.

I wonder if we will have Harris trying to put on a few pounds and moving to LB. Maybe Keanu Neal also. Neither are good enough in coverage to play at safety.

 

[GatorJ]

McMillan is probably our best cover guy.

I wonder if we will have Harris trying to put on a few pounds and moving to LB. Maybe Keanu Neal also. Neither are good enough in coverage to play at safety.

Law,

Help me to understand what his role in our defense would be. He was a ILB/MLB in high school. So I would think that he would be a better run stuffer. But you're right he's much better against the pass. And he seems kind of light. What LB position would he play on the team? I'm not sure what the ILB/MLB translates to on our defense.

You understand the role of the linebacker in this defense way better than I ever could.

 

[Concrete Helmet]

McMillan is probably our best cover guy.

Being better than Taylor or Morrisson in coverage is nothing to boast about, besides today was the first game that he's played in all season despite a ton of injuries at the position and he wasn't dropping deep enough in the second half to help the safety's on 3rd and long. Harris is a better safety than Neal or Gorman and I believe Washington is also. I would go so far as to say there will probably be a shakeup at the safety position next year.

 

[Singularity]

Hoping for a speedy recovery. Haven't heard anything though.

 

[Swamp Donkey]

Help me to understand what his role in our defense would be. He wasn't ILB/MLB in high school.

The sam backer is generally the lighter quicker backer who draws coverage of the TE and sometimes a back or slot guy. His skillset looks good to me for that position in what limited time Ive seen him. Obviously you'd like someone strong against the run also, but in the real world you tend to have guys that are better at this or that. Teams don't tendency their runs to the strong side like they used to do though and pass catching TES are in vogue with every team but Muschimp's.

Think Brian Crum as prototypical Sam --and under rated Imo. Neiron has been excellent playing sam. Our most famous recent Sam backer, Jevon Kearse, was actually quite poor at the position. He wasn't particularly good against the run and was terrible in pass coverage. He was a blitzing mofo though, thats why the moved him to 4-3 weak end in the pros.

The other "rules" are that the mike is your best run stuffer and probably the biggest. (I'd expect this to be Anzalone soon.) Will is the other "middle" backer in most schemes. Sam is usually up on the line or at least closer. Will backer-- think Earl Everett or Jelani-- is usually a bit faster than the mike bc he has more coverage duties. Of course not every scheme is the same and we are adopting a new 4-3 base.

Also, kids don't come from molds and sometimes you end up with a Mike Taylor or Antonio who really aren't big enough to be a great run stoppers and aren't fast enough to cover. (Love Taylor. He plays bigger and faster than he is, but he is physically limited. Antonio is a big hitter but also limited in coverage ability and size. He also seems to have gap responsibility issues. It looks great if you guess correctly and jump the right gap but looks like a long run if you don't.)

I didn't notice McMillan to be weak against the run but I wasn't watching that closely and frankly only noticed him a few times. The ill-informed sometimes think that the first person to arrive at a receiver is the one who got burned. It isn't the case. In today's Saban- inspired zone defenses, the backers have more roles than simply dropping to a certain depth and flapping their arms like most of us did in middle school if we played zone at all.

Generally, the backer first is expected to disrupt the seam route first, usually with contact, then the curl or crosser, then the flat, in a matchup type zone using basketball terminology (basketball thin ice for me). There are probably other schemes but that's the general very basic Saban scheme as I understand it. Here's a decent link but understand that this is just some basic info regarding one page of a thousand page playbook. https://www.dawgsbynature.com/2013/8/...verage-part-ii

Some teams remove the mike from the field in the nickle, some remove the sam. I thought I saw us removing Taylor (the slowest) and the sam moving inside. Or maybe our terminology is that the sam is removed, Antonio moved to mike and the sam moved to will. Same difference.

The announcer highlighted this to an extent noting if Taylor was on the field on a passing down, expect zone coverage. If a lighter sam backer is moved inside, presumably the coaches expect pass. If it instead ends up being a run, it's to be expected that the outside backer might struggle more with the second level blocks from the C or G.

That's my take, fwiw.

 

[TN G8tr]

HOpe that his injury is not too severe. Hoping for a speedy recovery.

 

[GatorJ]

The sam backer is generally the lighter quicker backer who draws coverage of the TE and sometimes a back or slot guy. His skillset looks good to me for that position in what limited time Ive seen him. Obviously you'd like someone strong against the run also, but in the real world you tend to have guys that are better at this or that. Teams don't tendency their runs to the strong side like they used to do though.

Think Brian Crum as prototypical Sam --and under rated Imo. Our most famous Sam backer was actually quite poor at the position, Jevon Kearse. He wasn't particularly good against the run and was terrible in pass coverage. He was a blitzing mofo though, thats why the moved him to 4-3 weak end in the pros.

The other "rules" are that the mike is your best run stuffer and probably the biggest. Will is the other "middle" backer in most schemes. Hes usually a bit faster than the mike bc he has more coverage duties. Of course not every scheme is the same and we are adopting a new 4-3 base.

I didn't notice McMillan to be weak against the run but I wasn't watching that closely and frankly only noticed him a few times. Some teams remove the mike from the field in the nickle, some remove the sam. I thought I saw us removing Taylor (the slowest) and the sam moving inside. The announcer highlighted this to an extent noting if Taylor was on the field on a passing down, expect zone coverage. If a lighter outside back is moved inside, presumably the coaches expect pass, but it instead ends up being a run, it's to be expected that the outside backer might struggle more with the second level blocks from the C or G.

I expect that Anzalone would grab the Mike then. And Davis would hold the Will.

I wonder who will replace #6? I think McCallister stays as a full time DE. He's 6'6 after all. Maybe Sherritt? I don't think Willis has the cover skills. If we sign Cowart I could see him getting about half the snaps his freshman year as the Buck.

 

[Swamp Donkey]

In a straight 4-3 (that I've read we will be playing... I hope this info is correct) we won't be asking the DE to flex to linebacker in a 3 man front from time to time. In otherwords, straight DE, no buck switching from hand in the dirt to LB on some plays. In a 4-3 the weak end is usually your thinner, faster guy. McCallister should play there. Sherrit behind him? I don't know. Could be Cox. The heavier end will play strong side mostly. Bullard is perfect for that. Ivie, Cox. Willis looks like a strong end (who could also play 3 tech DT) to me.

BTW a small "BUCK" on one side and a thin guy like McCallister playing the other end, when we went with a 3 man front, is not the way we wanted to be, at least not on plays when a run was possible. Injuries/suspensions caused that. In a 3 man front you want 3 heavy dudes. Bama and Ugly essentially played 3 NTs in their 3 man front. Each of these guys are required to control two gaps. It's tough sledding for a guy the size of McCallister and also makes the LBs look bad if the guards are getting clean second level blocks.

 

[GatorJ]

The information being passed to Cowart is that there will be a DE position similar to the Buck that will stand up. To what extent or what scenarios I don't know. It allows for fluid shift between 3-4 and 4-3 but I'd rather that guy be a full time DE and have better linebackers.

 

[Swamp Donkey]

OK. That makes sense given that the new DC is also a Saban disciple. I don't remember where I saw the 4-3 thing, but it did catch my eye.

Cece's a smaller dude (by DE standards) so he'd definitely play buck. He reminds me of RoPo. McCallister would play buck/week end also he's not particularly good at coverage. And he's certainly not big enough to play strong side end, especially in a 3 man front and especially vs SEC OLs. He's been a bit of a pass rush specialist for 3rd and long at that other end position. I haven't seen enough of Sherit. He's also too small to play end in a 3 man front.

Obviously, it's not all size and body type. If that were the case, John Demps would have been our best LB in history.